Daily Mirror - 04.03.2020

DM1ST
mirror.co.uk/sport WEDNESDAY 04.03.2020 DAILY MIRROR^45

NEXT DAY install availableNEXT DAY install availableNEXT DAY install availableNEXT DAY install available

For straight and curved stairsFor straight and curved stairs

365-day local service365-day local service

New or reconditionedNew or reconditioned

Rent or buy Rent or buy

0800 326 5106

Mobility (SaleS)

LEICESTER v BIRMINGHAM

FA CUP 5TH ROUND

King Power, Ko 7.45Pm

1. Tottenham Hotspur Stadium; 2. Portsmouth; 3.

United States; 4. Matt Toomua;

5. Montreal.
   answers

quick quiz

1. Where will Anthony
   Joshua fight Kubrat Pulev
   in June? 2. Which League
   One side play at Fratton Park? 3. Who won the
   2017 Fed Cup? 4. Australia cricketer Ellyse
   Perry is married to which Australia rugby
   union international? 5. Which city is home to
   the Canadiens and the Impact franchises?

1905: Hull KR’s George West scored a record 11

tries in a rugby league match against

Brookland Rovers in the Northern Cup (now

Challenge Cup).

1967: Third Division QPR pulled off a shock 3-2

win over West Brom in the first League Cup

final to be played at Wembley.

1976: John Curry won the men’s title at the

world figure-skating championships.

2002: Manchester City signed Preston striker

Jon Macken for £5million.

2012: Andre Villas Boas left Chelsea, with

Roberto Di Matteo appointed interim manager.

2013: The Danish FA announced it would not

consider striker Nicklas Bendtner for

international selection for six months after he

was arrested for drink-driving.

QPR boss Frank Sibley

hit out at Brian Clough after the Forest

manager accused his team of ‘kicking’.

Sibley’s team were defeated by Forest in

the FA Cup. And they faced the prospect of a

trip back up to Nottingham for a rearranged

league match.

“We don’t owe them any favours,” said

Sibley. “Sure we played hard. But we

certainly didn’t kick.”

back page: 1978

on this

day

march

04

making it possible.

I remember working

with Roberto Martinez

at Swansea, being

told it’s hard to play

football, keep posses-

sion, because the fans

always wanted to get forward.

“But Swansea created a culture at

the club. The same at Bournemouth.

The same at Brentford. What a

fantastic achievement. All within

FFP, and now Brentford move to a

new stadium. What England is doing

with its football is incredible.”

By his own admission, Clotet had

an average playing career curtailed

by injury. He worked at Espanyol

during Pochettino’s time in charge,

with ex-Malaga boss Pellegrini, then

moved to Swansea and

Leeds, before becoming

manager at Oxford and

now Birmingham.

His Blues are 13

games unbeaten in all

competitions and go to

Leicester in the FA Cup

fifth round tonight full

of belief, with Clotet a

contender for manager

of the month in the

Championship.

He added: “The

challenge was massive.

It’s been good to have the owner’s

representative at the training ground

because he can see the difficulties of

the job.

“Sometimes, you do a great job,

and you still don’t win.

“Overall, we are very satisfied with

the way it’s going. Last season, the

only game of the season we weren’t

fighting against relegation was in the

last one, against Reading. And now,

we’re not suffering like that.”

c LOTeT reckOns venabLes was

decades ahead Of The resT..

PEP CLOTET has worked with

some of Europe’s top managers,

but believes Terry Venables was

30 years ahead of his time.

Birmingham boss Clotet, 42, is a

keen student of the game having

learned as a youth coach under the

likes of Manuel Pellegrini and

Mauricio Pochettino.

He is now trying to take something

from each of them, but says

Venables’ time at Barcelona in the

mid-1980s was the template for

what Pep Guardiola has gone on

to achieve.

Clotet said: “My dad is a member

at Barcelona. We went to

the games and I grew up

watching Venables, Gary

Lineker, and Mark

Hughes. I met Hughes

and said to him, ‘I

remember seeing you

there, watching you

score a lot of headers’.

“He said in that first

season it was fantastic –

‘No one could play against

us, we were pressing all

the way up the pitch. But

the next season, we

couldn’t even run! We were

exhausted’.

“It was Venables who brought the

English mentality to Spain. I met

him a couple of years ago and said,

‘What you did there, it’s even better

than you think’. What he did, no one

has done that again, until Guardiola

was in charge. That was 30 years ago.

“Now you have players here that

are using concepts they were not

using before. The clubs are also

exCluSive

By JOHN CROSS

Chief Football Writer

@johncrossmirror

Pellegrini,

Pochettino?

No, my big

inspiration

was El Tel

LEICESTER^ BIRm’ham

Ward^ Camp

Justin^ Colin

Bennett^ Dean

Morgan^ Roberts

Fuchs^ Pedersen

Ndidi^ Crowley

Tielemans^ Sunjic

Gray^ Gardner

Praet^ Montero

Albrighton^ Hogan

Iheanacho^ Jutkiewicz

PROBABLE TEAMS

BARCA BOYS

Clotet’s hero

venables

(right) with

Gary lineker

and Mark

Hughes in

1987

By JAmeS NuRSeY

DEMARAI GRAy has been urged

to follow the lead of Raheem

Sterling to kickstart his Leicester

career at old club Birmingham

tonight.

Wideman Gray, 23, has had to

be patient with the high-flying

Foxes this season.

He has not started a league

game in 2020 and been limited

to just two top-flight starts and

412 minutes of action.

But boss Brendan Rodgers

wants more from Gray (both

below) after comparing his stats

of one goal and one assist to

England’s Manchester City ace

Sterling, who has 11 goals and an

assist in the Premier League.

Rodgers was Sterling’s

manager at Liverpool and said:

“Attacking players are judged on

what you can create and score.

“If you are comparing him and

looking at that

similar type of

player, you are

looking at a

Raheem

Sterling.

These are the levels. Demarai has

all the tools to play at the very

highest level.

“If you look at speed and

power, explosiveness, technique,

those are attributes he has.

“He is a good lad. Demarai has

played in the England Under-21s

and has a lot of caps at that level.

“Then it is how can you grow

and be consistent when you get

to that age of 22 or 23.

“I know it is something he is

conscious of and something I

have spoken to him about.

“If you look at the games he

has played , he has to produce

more. I have worked with a

number of wingers who go from

scoring three to four goals a

season to 15 plus.”

Former Birmingham trainee

Gray, snapped up in January

2016 for £3.5million,

has been promised

action tonight

against his old

club, as

Rodgers is

set to make

changes.

RODGERS: D EmaRai can

bE thE fOxES’ StERlinG